I uploaded photos of the FIO (Funnel I/O) module v1.0b yesterday. The prototype I have demonstrated to you at Oreilly Japan's office was PSoC based, but now it's an Arduino clone.
Key features are:
An Arduino clone with a XBee module (802.15.4 or ZNet 2.5)
Almost same sise as a FRISK box (but much thicker...)
ATMEGA168V @ 8MHz (a ceramic resonator is optional)
Looks very interesting (actually I got EZ430-RF2500). But might not fit to the short term development, and I have to apply many permissions to use officially. I'll consider for the next major version.
One small comment. I know you probably don't want to make the board any longer, but I'm guessing there will be people who will want to be able to make shields out of standard prototyping (perf) board. Having to cut out a notch to be able to access the power and ground pins will make this much more difficult. You might consider moving the XBee back so you can get to all the pins with a rectangular shield.
(We made a similar mistake with the Arduino pin layout and standard perf-board shields, and I'd hate to see it get repeated.)
I have a question about working with the XBee, can you use the arduino with the Xbee shield to give a PC a Xbee device? I am working on a device powered by the Arduino, and I need Xbee as part of the application, and I want to know if I can use the USB with the Arduino to control a set of relays and as a Xbee device at the same time
It works great if you jumper the Xbee to use an unused i/o pin and access it via Software Serial, and leave the hardware port available for the USB connection.
I have a question about working with the XBee, can you use the arduino with the Xbee shield to give a PC a Xbee device? I am working on a device powered by the Arduino, and I need Xbee as part of the application, and I want to know if I can use the USB with the Arduino to control a set of relays and as a Xbee device at the same time
Thank you very much for your kindly suggestions about FIO. Finally, FIO v1.3 (in collaborate with Nathan Seidle) is available at SparkFun.
Now the board is compatible with normal prototyping boards (no special shapes needed). Please note, the USB port is just for charging (no USB-to-UART bridge is mounted), but you can upload your sketches with the auto-reset function suggested by Ladyada (thanks!).
It would be much appreciated if you give me suggestions about the design of FIO v1.3.
Funnel IO is a very impressive design and implementation. I think the built-in Lithium Ion charger chip is brilliant as this design begs to be embedded into weight sensitive applications such as R/C aircraft.
Did you consider including (or did you) a six-pin header (possibly unmounted) to allow the board to be programmed using an FTDI cable? That would lower the cost needed to start loading sketches onto the board.
Did you consider including (or did you) a six-pin header (possibly unmounted) to allow the board to be programmed using an FTDI cable? That would lower the cost needed to start loading sketches onto the board.
Yes. Please look at the right side (actually top side in the picture). The first six pins are compatible with SparkFun's FTDI Basic Breakout modules, so also compatible with FTDI's.
Ah brilliant! I was expecting something awkwardly included in another spot on the board, so I missed the beautifully integrated header that you used. Nice one.
I just received my Funnel I/O in the mail today; what an elegant design! Very nice work. I have one small suggestion for a future revision and that would be to add an out line or some kind of marker in the silkscreen to remind the user which way the XBee module gets plugged in. I notice you had that on your prototypes, but it's been removed from v1.3.
Unfortunately, I had to re-solder one of the 2mm XBee sockets because one pin was filled with solder when it arrived, but that's no big deal, I know that's hard to avoid with these sockets. Once again, thanks for the great design with lots of possibilities!
Wow, you might be the first person who gets FIO v1.3! I'm really glad to know that you likes.
I have one small suggestion for a future revision and that would be to add an out line or some kind of marker in the silkscreen to remind the user which way the XBee module gets plugged in. I notice you had that on your prototypes, but it's been removed from v1.3.
Thank you very much for your suggestion. I'll consider for the next revision.
Just got my Funnel IO's - Nice work, but could you give us a hint which way the Xbee goes in the socket? I suppose I could puzzle it out, but a photo here (or on the funnel site) would help a lot of folks.